Exit the dragon, enter year of the snake

Donna Stellhorn, who practices astrology, digs her hands into a bowl filled with Chinese river stones. The words inscribed on the rocks are intended to send a subliminal message.EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Chinese astrology

The lunar new year begins on the first day of the first lunar month, between mid-January and mid-February.

The year of the snake runs Sunday through Jan. 30, 2014.

Like its Western counterpart, Chinese astrology uses 12 signs to chart basic character blueprints. Chinese astrology took root about 5,000 years ago and spread to the rest of Asia.

The system relies on philosophy, observations of the heavens, rhythms of nature and a fluctuating lunar calendar.

Animals represent the 12 years in its cycle. They are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. (The Vietnamese replace the rabbit with a cat.)

The animals are also associated with the five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – and each element has a color: green for wood, red for fire, brown for earth, white for metal, and black for water.

People of the snake

Chuck Lee thinks hard, but he can't come up with anybody he knows who was born in the year of the snake.

It's not something people like to acknowledge, said Lee, who serves as a part-time administrator for the Chinese school run by the North Orange County Chinese Culture Association.

Lee was born in the year of the dragon, considered the most favorable of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. The animals also cycle through the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

"The snake is not considered a good animal," said Lee, whose school planned to celebrate the lunar new year with a party at Villa Park High. "People hide it. They won't say when they are actually born."

It's a tough act following the year of the dragon, the current cycle in Eastern astrology that ends Feb. 10 with the lunar new year. It's even tougher for an animal that many see as a symbol of treachery and cunning.

Many parents who follow Eastern astrology plan for their children to be born in the year of the dragon, Lee said. On the other hand, they try to avoid having their children born in the year of the snake: "That's definitely the way people practice."

Barry Pearlman, born in 1941 and looking forward to celebrating his 72nd birthday in December, found something to cheer when he learned he was born in the year of the snake.

"I suppose that's better than the year of the rat," he quipped.

Pearlman was a successful auto salesman and dealership manager back East before moving to Orange County in 2004 to marry his teenage crush. On the positive side, the snake is said to be intuitive and wise, and Pearlman can relate to those traits.

"Yeah, I have a good feel for people. I'm rarely disappointed or surprised by them," said Pearlman, who lives in Orange and continues to work in his retirement as a personal trainer. "When I managed a car dealership, I was good at picking people who were good at (selling cars). Same thing with sports. I always understood what was going on. In football, I could see a play developing. I had an intuitive instinct to see the spot where I should play."

Astrologer Donna Stellhorn says there's much to celebrate about the year of the snake.

People born in the year of the snake are good at business because they know how to negotiate the best deal, and they are politically smart, knowing whose hand to shake and what baby to kiss, says Stellhorn, a professional astrologer and spiritualist in Laguna Niguel.

Stellhorn began practicing Western astrology in the late 1980s, picked up feng shui in the mid '90s and has made annual predictions based on Chinese astrology for the past dozen years or so.

Related Links

Donna Stellhorn, who practices astrology, digs her hands into a bowl filled with Chinese river stones. The words inscribed on the rocks are intended to send a subliminal message. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Donna Stellhorn, who practices both Western astrology and Chinese astrology, gazes on a crystal tree in her Laguna Niguel home. Shellhorn has an e-book out called "2013 Year of the Water Snake." EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Chuck Lee, vice principal at the Chinese school run by North Orange County Chinese Culture Assn., was born in the Year of the Dragon. He says no one he knows will admit to being born in the Year of the Snake. COURTESY OF NOCCCA

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